Sportsrageous

NBA: Steve Kerr named Coach of the Year after an impressive season

The Golden State warriors head coach Steve Kerr has been named by the NBA league as the recipient of the Red Auerbach trophy as the 2015-16 NBA Coach of the Year.Kerr is the third coach in the history of Golden State Warriors to earn the prestigious award, joining the likes of Don Nelson (1191-1992) and Alex Hannum (1963-1964).

Steve Kerr, whose team won an NBA-record 73 games, has received 64 first-place votes and 381 total points from a panel of 130 sportswriters and broadcasters. Portland Trail Blazers’ Terry Stotts has finished second with 37 first-place votes and 335 total points while three-time winner Gregg Popovich of the San Antonio Spurs has finished third with 10 first-place votes and 166 total points.

Kerr and assistant coach Luke Walton, who served as interim head coach until Kerr returned from back surgery complications on January, led the Warriors to an NBA-record 73 regular-season wins (73-9), beating the record set by the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls team, which includes Steve Kerr and Michael Jordan as key players. Under Kerr, the defending NBA champion has seen a six-game improvement in the win column in 2015-2016 and joined the Chicago Bulls as the only team in NBA history to earn at least 65 wins in consecutive campaigns The Warriors has started the season with a 24-0 record, making it the best start in the NBA history, and pushed their overall regular-season winning streak to 28 games.

In addition to the 73 wins NBA record, the Warriors also establish a new NBA mark for single-season wins (34) and consecutive home regular-season wins (54). The Warriors also became the first team in NBA history to go through an entire season without losing two games in a row and the first team to go an entire campaign without losing to the same team twice.

Kerr has missed the first 43 games of the season due to his back surgery, but assistant coach Luke Walton came in to guide the Warriors to a 39-4 record. With Kerr’s guidance, the Warriors has managed to push its winning streak to 28 games, making it the second-longest winning streak of all time.

Kerr has been awardedthe Red Auerbach Trophy during the Game 5 of the Warriors’ playoff series against the Houston Rockets on Wednesday.